Monthly Archives: May 2012

End of May

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Hold the presses! I just got back from the top of the tower where I was washing the windows. My eyes were drawn to a huge lump on Middle Rocks. With the binoculars I could see what appears to be 3 bull elephant seals, a few cows and a juvenile. That makes at least 14 elephant seals in the reserve! I wonder if it is Misery?

It is hard to tell that June begins tomorrow, due to the fog and damp. But there are certainly signs of summer beginning to show up in spite of the weather. The first Glaucous-winged Gull eggs are being laid, the Oystercatchers are getting more secretive

 

But the really BIG news is that a new-to-me bull elephant seals arrived yesterday. He isn’t as big as Misery but he is bigger than Zeke. I would guess he is a few years away from becoming a Beachmaster. He caused quite a commotion rampaging around and roughing up a few females before he found a nice spot to sleep for the next few days. I have named him Chunk, for both his size and the large scars down his back, which appear to be caused by a boat propellor a few years ago. (Ed note: These were actually caused by a fight with Misery last year. ) The scars look fairly well healed but some pretty big chunks were carved out by the prop.

 

Sea Lions are arriving

Aside

More and more California Sea Lions are showing up. There are about 10 on the rocks beneath the winch house as I write this. This photo however is of two Stellar’s enjoying the sunset after they cleared the rock of Californians.

I noticed three more Red Knots on the foreshore, and a corvus caurinus (crow) made it out for a visit. North-western crows are rare visitors here and I have only observed solitary excursions.

Work this week has comprised of painting the railings around the main house and walkway. We got the water desalinator working again, and some of the old computer equipment was removed from the student house.

Several dive groups have made underwater excursions just off the dock in the last week. We continue to see a lot of tour boats in the reserve.

This afternoon I noticed the first Glaucous-winged Gull egg in a shallow grass nest a few feet from my doorstep. I will have to stick to the sidewalk for a few months while the nesting and hatching play out.

Busy Times

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A lot is going on in and around the reserve. I spotted 6 Caspian Terns in area over the last week. Twice orca have gone past, though at the northern boundary, well-observed by tourists on the excursion vessels that are now very frequent visitors. There is a River Otter now living under walkway in front. 

This morning 9 Elephant Seals were present, a new record! At least to me… They include Numbers 6355, 6360, 6397, 5086, Bertha, Noah – young male 3-4 yo est.), 2 untagged 2-3 yo juveniles, AND, happily the sad seal with the infected mouth that suffered for weeks on the end of the pier returned, and she is looking great! I had observed that after one of the sharp pieces of jaw bone that was protruding from her lower palate fell out she quickly returned to the water to find sustenance; she was very skinny and weak at the time.  Although her mouth is still repairing and healing itself it is clear she was able to feed well and she must have gained 40 kgs in fat in 5 weeks. I am astounded and impressed with the recuperative powers of these magnificent creatures.

 


Weekend Tallies

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I lost track of the number of visits by tour boats this long weekend. It was at least 50. An orca pod hard been somewhere off Sooke so all the boats went through and visited on the way back. Sunday afternoon the pod transited the edge of the reserve heading East towards Trial Island and Victoria. Consequently there have only been about 5 boats here today (the rain and fog might be contributing to that number). I had to phone one of the operators as one of their new operators was oblivious to the guidelines here in the reserve. They apologized and promised to have a word with him.

I asked a pleasure fish boat to cease fishing in the reserve, and he was happy to comply. Ignorance is so often a factor in issues of conservation and human impact.

I was lucky enough to see, but not photograph a Red Knot. This unusual shorebird is an infrequent visitor to our shore and is likely migrating to above the Arctic Circle. Several other unidentified solitary shorebirds have also been seen, and more California Sea Lions are showing up. The rain is much appreciated as no more than a few millimetres have fallen in almost 2 months.

More about Elephant Seals!

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In researching elephant seals I discovered that they are all descended from a single male. Hunted near extinction, only a remnant population survived on a remote Mexican island. Their comeback to about 150,000 individuals is remarkable, but there is not much genetic variation in the population. This could be problematic if disease strikes. It could also mean rapid genetic mutation, an event that could be detrimental or beneficial to the population. The jury is out, but I hope they survive on this planet for millions of years.

I am very excited to be watching the recolonization of traditional territories by the elephant seal. Race Rocks appears to be the epicentre of this recent phenomenon. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if in a decade or two, hundreds of moulting individuals could be witnessed lounging about on the lawns and on the ramp here, safe, comfortable and respected.

Elephant Seal Facts from: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/ocean/01_dioramas/h_elephantseal.php

  • Size: 45 kilograms (100 pounds) at birth; adult males weigh 2700 kg (6,000 lbs)
  • Food: mostly squid
  • Life span: 15 to 20 years
  • Closest relatives: southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina)
  • Fun fact: elephant seals can slow their heart rate from 100 beats to 3 beats per minute to conserve energy and oxygen during very deep dives

Getting Busy round here

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More and more tour boats are visiting the reserve this week. It is easy to loose track of the numbers because they come out of nowhere it seems and from every direction. I estimate we are seeing about 20 visits a day this week. This may be because the orca are out of range, and Race Rocks can always be counted on to provide a picturesque opportunity to see marine mammals in the wild. By and large the tour boat operators are respectful but some operators seem ignorant of the reserve boundaries and come in or leave a little too rapidly. I will be emailing the companies to clarify this issue when I have some photographic evidence.

Whale-watching vessel

This enormous vessel is new. I will be curious to see how marine mammals react to it. I suspect it will have less impact than the zodiacs because it will stay a bit further away and more people will see the animals on one trip than 6 or 8 zodiac trips. We will see!

 

This large California Sea Lion arrived yesterday. He has a brand that appears to be 909 (or 606). More pictures of him coming soon….

Elephant Seals at Docks

 

 

 

There are 6-7 elephant seals finishing up their moulting now. On occasion we get a little traffic jam on the ramp. Here Bertha reminds the others who is boss…

 

 

The military conducted several over-flights whilst on manoeuvres, but at a reasonable altitude. Yesterday Erik and I shipped 500 gallons of water over, as finding parts for the desalination unit is challenging. I hope that volume will last a month or so…

Busy Little Island – here come the humans…

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This weekend the island and reserve is teeming with humans. Seven Pearson students are experiencing a weekend here, we have 4 groups of Pearson students (60 in total) coming out for a biology exam. As well the “Friends of Ecological Reserves” group is coming for a tour in a few hours. But perhaps most obvious are the 25-30 sport halibut fish boats ringing the reserve to the East, South and West. Apparently there is a derby with about 450 fishing tickets sold. Either those boats are crowded or we can expect more before the day is over. Personally I am routing for the halibut!

We had 6 elephant seals here yesterday including numbers 6360, 5086 and 6375. Bertha is back for her moulting time of the year. She seems to go through the process much quicker than the juveniles. You can see the scar that makes her so easy to identify and is testament to her recuperative powers.

One of the juvenile elephant seals managed to wiggle under the chicken wire of one of the enclosures Alex made to measure the impact of Canada Geese on the grass. Turns out a 100 kg e-seal can have an impact on grass too.

photo courtesy of Pam Birley. Taken from the tower remote camera.

She has been liberated but seemed more annoyed than thankful!

Bald Eagle flyover…. a float plane just buzzed us and last night the military helicopter was doing exercises in the area. Chris cleaned the underwater webcam yesterday. You can watch the fish and if you are lucky spot a Sea Lion! https://racerocks.ca/racerock/uwcam/video2frame.htm